Bridgewater-Raritan school board moves gifted program out of Adamsville School to ease crowding

Google MapsTo end crowding at Adamsville Elementary School on Union Avenue, the Bridgewater-Raritan school board will move the district's elementary gifted and talented program to Hamilton School next fall.

To alleviate crowding at Adamsville Primary School, the Bridgewater-Raritan’s elementary school gifted and talented program will move to Hamilton Primary School next fall.

Relocating the nearly 100-student program is the school board’s initial attempt to address an enrollment imbalance that has grown steadily over the past three years.

The school board could intervene again next year if more children need to be moved elsewhere.

During the past three years, Adamsville enrollment soared as enrollment at the district’s six other elementary schools plummeted, leaving some schools underutilized by about a quarter of their capacity.

The board’s decision came after a series of discussions during the past four meetings and follows the recommendation of a 21-member Redistricting Task Force created last fall to evaluate a cluster of strategies proposed by Superintendent Michael Schilder.

The AI solution was among those recommended in the Task Force report, which can be found on the district website under Superintendent’s News.

The plan frees up five classrooms at Adamsville School and drops enrollment there to “slightly below” the level determined by the state Department of Education to be its capacity, Schilder said in a statement posted on the website.

It also keeps the AI program remains together, Schilder said, and “no students are moved out of their neighborhood schools.”

Schilder acknowledged that the present solution doesn’t put an end to the enrollment imbalance problem, nor does it mean that the school board won’t find Adamsville at capacity again next year.

The Task Force found that Adamsville enrollment grew by an average of 3% a year over the last three years, and that enrollment increased during the school year as well as between years. By contrast, enrollment at the districts six other primary schools, including Hamilton, declined by 4-6% in each of the previous three years.

“It’s a solid decision for now,” Schilder said today, noting that district officials would monitor the situation closely and the school board will likely evaluate the impact of the decision next spring.

“If we need to do more, we will.”

That could mean choosing an additional option as early as next fall, “if something transpires over the summer,” Schilder said, “(for example) a huge influx of students at Hamilton or Adamsville.

The Task Force provided the school board with seven options, plus some additional strategies.

“It’s nice to have the report,” he said, “if we need something additional it’s already there.”